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Tire induced death wobble

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Old 12-31-2010, 01:34 PM
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Originally Posted by nthinuf
Camber is non-adjustable on JKs. Caster is not adjustable unless you add cams or adj ca's. Toe and steering wheel re-centering are all you can do without adding additional parts...
You are correct, forgot about that on the JKs.
Old 12-31-2010, 07:11 PM
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Originally Posted by Vegas_JK
I can tell you tires can cause death wobble. I had an 03 tj and about 30000 miles in I started to get a wobble. Had the track bar check, tire rebalanced, brakes check and still a wobble. I then got a bonus from work and got some pro comp m/t and the wobble disappeared. I still had the original spare. The day I got a flat and had to use the spare death wobble came back. Tires can cause death wobble. I'm not a fan of the Goodyear wrangler tire for this reason. If you can switch the tires back a see what happens.
Are you sure you're referring to DW, and not a vibration? True DW will destroy many components in your suspension system over time. It's not something that makes and appearance and then goes away forever. Heavy tires might mask it for a while, but it will still be there and is absolutely related to looseness in the components and a resulting inability to control the solid front axle.
Old 12-31-2010, 07:14 PM
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I've had it and it's not fun.
Hope you get it figured out.
I'm not even going to suggest what else it could be that would be a waste of yours and my time.
Good Luck
Old 01-01-2011, 05:38 PM
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I do have adjustable lower control arms and my caster is adjusted to 5 degrees I am thinking that the aggressive setting is the problem I am going to check it all tomorrow I'll keep you all updated!
Old 01-01-2011, 05:51 PM
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Originally Posted by nthinuf
If those same tires do not cause DW on your brothers JK, but do cause it on yours - sounds like something in your setup is 'on the edge', and something having to do with those tires/wheels is sending you 'over' the edge into dw. Other than at vs mt, what other differences are there? Same psi? Same width rims? Newer tread vs worn out? Balanced recently? Where they swapped to the same corners of both vehicles, or mixed up the rotations?

Could be a lot of things, but as noted, I am guessing that something in your setup is borderline...
the rotation was mixed up, I told my brother to keep them in there same position but he didnt think it would matter I might try to put them back in the position they came from, I took my wheel spacers off in the front to see if that would help it did a little I think I will be able to make it the week untill my tires get here! but Im still going to cheak the torks again tomorrow!
Old 01-01-2011, 06:02 PM
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Tires that are out of balance can cause DW...

During last weeks snow storm, I drove down a street that was plowed in at the end...of course, being a Jeep driver, I just went through the snow bank. 10 min later I had horrible DW...

I pulled over, cleaned some snow that was packed in the inside of my wheels and went on my way...for the remainder of my 250 mile trip, I had no DW...I say the snow threw off the balance on my wheels...
Old 01-01-2011, 06:19 PM
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Originally Posted by jmat1980
Tires that are out of balance can cause DW...

During last weeks snow storm, I drove down a street that was plowed in at the end...of course, being a Jeep driver, I just went through the snow bank. 10 min later I had horrible DW...

I pulled over, cleaned some snow that was packed in the inside of my wheels and went on my way...for the remainder of my 250 mile trip, I had no DW...I say the snow threw off the balance on my wheels...
No offense, but I doubt you had real DW. An out of balance may make the DW more noticeable to easier to trigger but it will not cause nor fix true DW. OP, with your jeep on level ground, loosen the front track bar and control arms. Rock the jeep back and forth and bounce it with some force. Then torque everything to spec. If you don't have a torque wrench, buy one. Good luck.
Old 01-02-2011, 06:47 AM
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Trackbar and control arms need to be torqued to 125 ft/lbs. If you think you know how tight that is without a torque wrench, then you don't.

It's almost always trackbar from what I have read...look for shiny areas around the two bolts....if there is enough slop for it to move, then it creates a "clean" spot.

True death wobble...is nothing like an out of balance tire. Not even close.
Old 01-04-2011, 06:55 AM
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Originally Posted by wazooz2424
No offense, but I doubt you had real DW. An out of balance may make the DW more noticeable to easier to trigger but it will not cause nor fix true DW. OP, with your jeep on level ground, loosen the front track bar and control arms. Rock the jeep back and forth and bounce it with some force. Then torque everything to spec. If you don't have a torque wrench, buy one. Good luck.
Exactly. For the bazillionth time: tire do not cause DW. And DW does not go away on its own. If it's true DW, it must be diagnosed and cured by repairs or (at a minimum) re-torquing of the suspension components.

A shimmy isn't DW. If you have any doubt whether you've experienced DW, you just had a shimmy. The first time you get DW you will know it beyond a doubt.

Shimmy = wine cooler (maybe there's alcohol, maybe not, kinda hard to tell)

DW = grain alcohol
Old 01-06-2011, 05:55 AM
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Alright so I torqued everything to spec after I loosened it all up and bounced on the front end, swapped tires around and prayed to the DW god! He spat in my face and laughed at me, I still got death wobble. Just so you know there is no sign of oblong holes in the track bar. There is only one other thing I could think of and that is my caster is set to 5.5-6 degrees and I'm lot changing that because my tires will be here next week 35/12.5/17 GY mtr kevalars!! So I will let you know after I get them on!


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